Charles Grojean has been in real estate around Jacksonville since 1970, and he jokes that it was about time for him to have an "exit strategy."
Grojean sold his company, Grojean Real Estate, earlier this year, but he's sticking around for the foreseeable future.
Mike Hayes, a real estate broker, developer and landlord in Jacksonville, purchased the company in October. Hayes says he was considering starting his own company to market and sell a proposed subdivision adjacent to Jacksonville Country Club, but after talking with Grojean, Hayes decided it made more sense to buy an established business than to build one himself. Hayes also does business in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida.
Grojean says he got started in real estate because he was always around it. His father and grandfather started the company in the '70s, and Grojean's son, Adam, now works for the company, too. Grojean and his brother, Tom Grojean of Jacksonville, retained ownership of a separate insurance company under the same umbrella when they sold the real estate company. They'll continue to operate out of the same building as before, with Grojean continuing to sell real estate. He says even the name, Grojean Real Estate, will remain for now.
"Not much has changed," Grojean said.
Hayes says the proposed subdivision is still in the approval stage, but demolition has already begun for an existing mobile home park and a handful of houses on the site. Hayes hopes to begin developing the still-unnamed subdivision in the spring, with a mix of single-family and duplex residential, including high-end homes directly facing the golf course.
Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].
